The Lives and Deaths of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac - Part 2

In the fall of 1996, the hip hop world would lose one of it’s icons. 6 months later, they would lose another. Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace, The Notorious B.I.G., were icons and revolutionized the music industry. Their deaths shocked the world and changed the face of music forever. Over the years, many have attempted to solve these cases, but they remain unsolved.

for part one, click here!

Biggie’s Career

After BIG was released from jail for selling drugs in North Carolina, he headed home and started to record music. He made a mixtape, “Microphone Murderer,” but didn’t expect much to come from it. A local heard the tape though, and promoted it whenever he could. Eventually it was heard by Matty C, an editor for The Source magazine. There was an “Unsigned Hype” section that put unsigned artists on display to try to get their names out there. Biggie was able to spin that attention into making a demo tape. That demo tape would change his life forever.

The demo was heard by a young Sean Combs, who immediately set out to sign Biggie to Uptown Records, whom he worked for at the time. In 2017, Puffy recalled their first meeting. He said that he brought BIG to a local soul food restaurant, Sylvia’s. This place is one of the mecca’s of soul food. People come to New York from all over the world for it. He said that when they sat down, he asked BIG if he wanted to eat, but he said no.

“I realized that’s how big this moment was for him. This was really his dream. He couldn’t even eat. He just wanted for this to really happen and it happened. It was all a dream.”

Within months of signing, BIG was on a track with “Heavy D and the Boys,” but within a year, Puffy was fired from Uptown Records. Within a week of his firing, Bad Boy Records was created, and BIG was immediately signed. In August of 1993, BIG welcomed his first child, the mother of which was a long time girlfriend, but the two had separated when T’Yanna was born. As a high-school dropout, Wallace promised his daughter “everything she wanted”, in his reasoning that if he had had the same in childhood, he would have graduated at the top of his class. Although he was signed to a label and had a few lines here and there on tracks, BIG was still dealing drugs off and on throughout this time. Once Puffy found out, he told him that he needed to either be in or out, he couldn’t have one foot in each world. It’s said that this was when BIG stopped dealing for good.

Around this time, Biggie was working with Mary J Blige, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, etc, but he ran into a little trouble. He had been going by the name Biggie Smalls on all these records and songs, but that name was taken by Calvin Lockheart in the 1975 film “Lets Do It Again.” Lockheart sued Biggie to stop him from using “Biggie Smalls,” and Notorious B.I.G. was born, although “Biggie” is a common referral as well.

In 1994, BIG had a photo shoot with other Bad Boy artists. This is where he met Faith Evans. After just 8 days of knowing one another, the two got married. Five days later, “Juicy / Unbelievable,” Big’s first project as a solo artist made it to 27 on the Billboard charts as the lead single for his upcoming album.

BIG’s only album released while he was alive was titled, “Ready to Die.” It was released in September of 1994 and reached 13 on the Billboard charts. It would eventually be certified platinum 4 times, 4 million copies sold. The album featured the hit, “Big Poppa,” and shifted the focus from West Coast rap to East Coast, at a time when West Coast rap was dominating the charts. It was around this time that BIG met Tupac and their friendship blossomed. At the Source Awards in August 1995, BIG was named Best New Artist (Solo), Lyricist of the Year, Live Performer of the Year, and his debut Album of the Year. At the Billboard Awards, he was Rap Artist of the Year.

It’s around this time that the shooting of Tupac takes place in Time Square and Tupac is sentenced to time in prison.

Enter Death Row Records and Suge Knight

While Tupac was in prison, appealing his conviction, he claimed that he only wrote one song. He instead focused on reading. He read the works of Machiavelli and Sun Tsu’s “Art of War.” He couldn’t post bail, becuase he was broke. His mom was about to lose her house. On Tupac’s behalf, his wife, Keisha Morris, reached out to Suge Knight of Death Row records and told him what was going on, and that he needed help financially. Knight arranged for Tupac’s mother to receive $15,000 and began to visit Tupac in prison.

A quick detour to find out who Suge Knight is. Suge Knight is one of the co-founders of Death Row Records and was at the center of the movement that brought hardcore gangster rap to mainstream audiences. Before starting Death Row though, he was a promoter, and founded a music publishing company. His first big profit came from… Vanilla Ice. The song “Ice Ice Baby” had used material written by one of Suge’s clients, and supposedly, Ice agreed to give Suge the royalties from the song. Suge and his bodyguards would confront Ice several times, and there’s a story that’s floated around the music industry for a while. The story goes that Suge and a couple of his guys broke into Ice’s hotel room one night and hung him by his ankles from the balcony, while demanding their money. Ice claimed that never happened, only that Suge threatened to throw him from the balcony.

Through his publishing company, Suge met members of NWA and learned that Dr. Dre and “The D.O.C” (another rapper) wanted to leave NWA, and the record label run by fellow NWA member Easy E. Suge and his men threatened Easy E and others with lead pipes until they agreed to release Dre and DOC from their obligations and let them sign where they wanted. Almost immediately, Dr. Dre, The D.O.C., and Knight formed Death Row Records. Knight is known throughout the industry as someone you don’t fuck with. Suffice it to say, Knight has had several run-ins with police over the years. This story isn’t about him though, but he is currently serving 28 years in prison on manslaughter charges.

Back to Tupac in prison, when Suge starts visiting. These visits were pretty much just Suge’s way to convince Tupac to sign with Death Row Records. In exchange for a 3 album deal, Suge could get Tupac out of prison and back in the studio. Tupac agreed, and Suge got the ball rolling by posting his 1.4 million dollar bond. In August 1995, Suge visited Tupac while they were waiting for him to be released, and after that visit, he headed to New York City for the 2nd Annual Source Awards ceremony. While there, Suge had the opportunity to be on stage with a microphone, and he used the little time he had to belittle and berate Puffy, closing his rant by inviting any rappers who wanted to make a name for themselves to leave their current label and join Death Row.

After the ceremony, Suge went to Uptown Records, the place where Puffy got his start in the music industry via an internship. At this point, Suge was known for his strong arm tactics, and after meeting with Uptown Records founder, Andre Harrell, Suge was able to get a few of Puff’s prime Uptown recruits, without paying anything for their releases, including Jodeci and Mary J. Blige.

Next, in September of 1995, Suge and crew were in Atlanta for a party for Jermaine Dupri at a local night club. Puffy was at the club as well, and witnesses said that he and Suge got into a heated exchange. It was heated enough that when they were outside the club a few minutes later, one of Puffy’s bodyguards and childhood friends, aimed a gun at one of Suge’s bodyguards, Jai Hassan-Jamal “Big Jake” Robles, and fatally shot him while he was entering Suge’s car. Lawyers for both Puffy and his bodyguard denied any accusations, and Big Jake’s murder was never solved, although Suge adamantly blames it on Puffy. This furthered the divide between the East and West coast rap rivalry.

In October of 1995, everything finally went through for Tupac to be released from prison. Some people said that when Tupac got out of prison, he “seemed like a completely transformed person.”

After being released, as part of his three album deal, Tupac immediately began work on his 4th studio album, “All Eyez on Me.” The album was released in February of 1996 and was rap’s first double disc album, meaning it qualified as 2 of the 3 albums required per Suge and Tupac’s agreement. All Eyez on Me rocketed out of the gate, selling over 550k copies in its first week. It reached the top spot on the Billboard 200, and R&B / Hip Hop charts. In 1997, it won Rap Album of the Year at the Soul Train Awards. This album, featuring the single, “California Love,” went certified diamond in 2014, with over 10 Million sales, and as of 2019, has over 11 million copies sold. Rolling Stone said of the album, “It’s like a Cali thug-life version of Pink Floyd’s The Wall – pure gangsta ego run amok over two CDs.”

Tupac’s 5th and final studio album would be titled “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory,” usually referred to as “The 7 Day Theory.” It was written and recorded in 7 days in August of 1996. The lyrics were written and recorded in three days, and the other four days were for mixing the album. Tupac would not be alive for the album’s release though, just a few weeks later, he would be dead.

Tupac’s Death

September 7th, 1996 Tupac and his entourage are in Las Vegas to celebrate a business partner’s birthday. While there, they planned on going to the Bruce Seldon vs Mike Tyson heavyweight fight with Suge Knight at the MGM Grand. Shortly after Tupac got out of prison, he and his wife split, having their marriage annulled. They got married when he was in prison, and she later recounted that she thought it was just to give her name more credentials when she went to ask for favors for him and his family. He had begun dating Kidada Jones, daughter of music industry mogul Quincy Jones, and sister of Rashida Jones (The Office & Parks and Rec). Kidada was in Vegas with them that night as well, but she did not attend the fight. They did use her car however, and when they left the fight, Tupac’s bodyguard, Frank Alexander, was told not to ride with him, but to drive her car instead.

Leading up to the shooting, Tupac, Suge, and their crew went to the Tyson fight, which Tyson won in the first round. After the fight, they began to exit the arena and into the casino. As they were leaving, one of their entourage saw a man in the lobby, a known, noted Crip, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson. The man accused Anderson of accosting him in a mall before and tried to snatch the chain of his neck with his Death Row medallion. Next thing, they all jump on Anderson and beat him down. They then make an escape through the casino, with what seems like an entourage of 50 people.

They left the casino and headed back to the hotel, where Tupac saw Kidada before quickly changing clothes and getting ready to head to one of Suge Knight’s clubs to perform. He left the hotel and went to Suge’s house to meet up before they had to head to Club 662. They got into a black BMW with bodyguards, but the bodyguards weren’t armed since they couldn’t get the necessary permits to carry weapons. Tupac’s personal bodyguard was driving Kidada’s car and wasn’t in the car with them. They left Suge’s house and headed out into the Vegas night. Around 11PM, a bike mounted police officer stopped the car because they were playing loud music and the vehicle didn’t have plates on it. After a quick search, they found the plates in the trunk, and the officer let them leave without a ticket.

Suge was driving, with Tupac in the passenger seat when they stopped at a stop light around 11:15 pm. A white, four door late model Cadillac pulled up on the passenger side and opened fire. Tupac was hit four times, once in the arm, once in the thigh, and twice in the chest. One bullet passed through his right lung. Suge was hit in the head with bullet fragments.

The first officer on the scene was Chris Carroll. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2014, he revealed what Tupac’s final words were.

“So I grabbed him with my left arm, and he falls into me, and I’ve still got my gun in the other hand. He’s covered with blood, and I immediately notice that the guy’s got a ton of gold on – a necklace and other jewelry – and all of the gold is covered in blood. That has always left an image in my mind. . . And as Suge is yelling ‘Pac!,’ I look down and I realize that this is Tupac Shakur.”

Elsewhere in the Vegas Seven story, Carroll says he attempted to get a “dying declaration” of a potential suspect from Shakur, but the rapper was ignoring him at first.

“And then I saw in his face, in his movements, all of a sudden in the snap of a finger, he changed. And he went from struggling to speak, being noncooperative, to an ‘I’m at peace’ type of thing. Just like that. . . And that’s when I looked at him and said one more time, ‘Who shot you?’. . . I thought I was actually going to get some cooperation. And then the words came out: ‘Fuck you.”

When he was asked why he came forward with this information after so long in 2014, Carroll, since retired, said, “It’s been almost 18 years. There’s clearly never going to be a court case on this.”

Tupac was rushed to University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, where he was sedated and put on life support. In the ICU, six days later, he succumbed to his wounds and died from internal bleeding. The official cause of death was respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest associated with multiple gunshot wounds. At the age of 25, Tupac Shakur died, and the music industry lost an icon.

In November of 1996, Death Row Records released “The 7 Day Theory,” to critical acclaim. It hit number one on the charts, and was certified platinum 4 times.

Biggie - 1996 & 1997

In 1996, Biggie again had some run-ins with police. In March, he was arrested outside a nightclub for chasing some fans who were asking for autographs. He smashed the windows of their taxi, and punched one of them in the face. He pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service. In mid-1996, he was arrested at his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, for drug and weapons possession charges.

Then, Tupac was killed in September. The rumor mill ran amuck and many thought that Biggie had something to do with it. One rumor was that he supplied the murder weapon to a crip who pulled the trigger. Faith Evans, Biggie’s wife, recalled receiving a phone call that night from him, crying from shock. “I think it’s fair to say he was probably afraid, given everything that was going on at that time and all the hype that was put on this so-called beef that he didn’t really have in his heart against anyone.”

In October of 1996, Evans gave birth to Christopher “C.J.” Wallace Jr, Biggie’s second child. The following month, Lil Kim, a member of the Junior Mafia, Biggie’s group of proteges, released her first album. Biggie produced the album for her, and while they were recording, the two had an affair.

Throughout 1996, Biggie worked on his second album, “Life After Death.” While working on it, he was in a car accident, which left him hospitalized for a time, and forced him to use a wheelchair and later a cane to get around.

Biggie’s Death

In Feb of 1997, he travelled to California to promote his upcoming album, Life After Death and record the video for the single “Hypnotize.” While there, he went to various radio shows and did interviews here and there to promote the album. He also went to the Soul Train Music Awards and presented an award to Toni Braxton. During the presentation, he was booed by the west coast rap fans. Biggie had stated in an earlier interview that he had hired bodyguards while he was there, but that was more to do with his celebrity status, than being a rapper. After the award show, he attended an after party at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Guests included Faith Evans, Aaliyah, Combs, and members of the Crips and Bloods gangs.

Around 12:30A.M, the fire department came in and shut the party down, due to overcrowding. Biggie left with his entourage in two GMC Suburbans to make their way back to the hotel they were staying at. He rode in the passenger seat, while Greg “G-Money” Young drove. Puffy traveled in the other SUV with three bodyguards. A third vehicle was in their group, a Chevy Blazer, driven by Bad Boy Records head of security Paul Offord.

At 12:45 A.M, Biggie’s SUV stopped at a red light 50 yards from the Petersen Automotive Museum, and a black Chevy Impala pulled up alongside it. The Impala’s driver rolled down his window, drew a 9mm blue-steel pistol, and fired at Biggie’s car. Biggie was struck by four bullets and was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Once there, doctors performed an emergency thoracotomy. At 1:15 A.M, he was pronounced dead at 24 years old. His autopsy, which was released 15 years after his death, showed that only the final shot was fatal. It entered through his right hip and struck his colon, liver, heart, and left lung before stopping in his left shoulder.

Biggie’s second album, “Life After Death,” was released 16 days after his death, as scheduled. Again, it was number 1 on all the charts, and Biggie was named artist of the year by Spin Magazine in 1997.

Theories

The main and most likely event that lead to Tupac’s death can be linked to the MGM Casino, after the Mike Tyson fight. According to some, his murder was a direct result of the attack on crip Orlando Anderson after the fight. After the beating he received, he got a group together, and they shot Tupac out on the Vegas strip. According to an LA Times article written by Chuck Phillips, “the shooting was carried out by a Compton gang called the Southside Crips to avenge the beating of one of its members by Shakur a few hours earlier. Orlando Anderson, the Crip whom Shakur had attacked, fired the fatal shots. Las Vegas police interviewed Anderson only once as a possible suspect. He was later killed in an unrelated gang shooting.” Anderson was killed in 1998.

Another theory is that Puffy paid $1 million dollars to have Tupac and Suge Knight killed by crip gang members. When he wasn’t killed, it’s alleged that Knight then paid Bloods $13,000 to kill Biggie. Neither of these have been proven to be fact, but they are still out there as possibilities.

Another Biggie theory is that Suge Knight paid corrupt LAPD officers to kill him.

Author John Potash claimed in his 2008 book “The FBI War on Tupac Shakur and Black Leaders” that the FBI was behind both Wallace’s and Shakur’s murders. Citing 12 years of research, hundreds of interviews and countless court documents, Potash alleged that the FBI wanted to end the violent rap culture of the ’90s and utilized counterintelligence programs to target leftist musicians.

One last, and perhaps the most out there theory, is that they are both actually alive and well, enjoying life outside of the public spotlight. This theory seems to follow any person who dies who has a “cult” following though. Just look at Aviici.

Both of their influence on the rap community is undeniable. They’re credited by almost every rapper out there as being the inspiration behind why they started rapping to begin with.

Eminem wrote a letter to Tupac’s mother, thanking her for thing’s she has done for him over the years and included a drawing he did…. (It’s an undated letter, not sure when it was actually written.)

Dear Afeni

Sorry if it looks a little sloppy, I could’ve done a little better if I had the right pencils. Instead, I had to draw it in pen. Plus, I just kind of thought of the idea a little too late. But I’ve been drawing since I was 10, and I thought you might like it. Anyways, thank you for always being so kind to me. You are a true Queen, and I mean that in every sense of the word. I will never forget the opportunities you have given me. You will always be in my heart, my thoughts, and my prayers. As I have said before, you have no idea how much your son and his music has inspired, not only the “Hip Hop” world, but, speaking for myself, has inspired my whole career. He was, and still is, the true definition of a “Soldier.” When I was feeling at my worst; (before fame, before Dre) I knew I could put that “2Pac” tape in, and suddenly, things weren’t so bad. He gave me the courage to stand up and say “F**k the world!” “This is who I am! And if you don’t like it, go f**k yourself!” Thank you for giving us his spirit, and yours! God Bless you!

Love

Marshall

Over the years, many people have speculated about who killed each of these men. Several investigations have taken place, to no avail. Both of their murders remain unsolved.